SSION is a happening; and it’s happening all around you. Nothing in recent musical memory is as captivating as the fervor that has grown around Cody Critcheloe and the coven of plasticene Queens and Fila-chic Warlocks he affectionately refers to as SSION. As a matter of technicality, SSION is Critcheloe’s project alone, a self-contained cosm replete with its own dress-code, lexicon and standards, but through his music, video art and performance he emphasizes that the world of SSION is an inclusionary one. Critcheloe began performing as SSION in 1996 in Kansas City, MO, making this the third decade the group has seen, a datum that the ever-rotating cast will attest to. Without the aid of publicists or managers, SSION managed to magnetize more wildly fanatical followers than most bands could ever hope to have.

Throughout these 16 years, his work (musical and visual) has been commissioned by many: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Santigold, The Gossip, MNDR, CSS, Fischerspooner Peaches, Liars, Tilly & the Wall and more. SSION have headlined and sold out multiple nights at MoMA PS1 and Deitch Projects, toured with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and received huge amounts of attention from The New York Times, Village Voice, and more. As SSION, his exploration of iconography and self has continued to become more thorough and incisive. 2011’s Bent swept the internet like a brushfire. The art community, the gay community, and the gay art community have adopted his as a household name. The world had better be ready.